Not one day passes without new torment in the Middle East. Israel brazenly bombs Syria, assassinates Iranian nuclear scientists, and invites the U.S. to nuke Iran. Civil war continues to rage in Syria, escalating tension and deadly turmoil in Turkey and Lebanon. Millions of war refugees flee for their lives to bordering lands.
More than anything else, the widening and deepening conflicts in the region are a result of the U.S. wars against Iraq and Afghanistan, which have inflamed old tensions, created new ones, and emboldened regional bullies the U.S. considers its allies.
What does Empire America want from the Middle East? Oil, other vital natural resources, and control over a geopolitically strategic location on the world map. More urgently now, it needs the colossal markets that war creates for the arms industries. Capitalism is determined to save itself.
Also determined are the rebels against foreign and domestic despots in Syria, Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Jordan, Pakistan, and Iran. So don’t believe for one minute that when the United States “intervenes” in the Middle East it has anything to do with “helping out.” Listen instead to the grass-roots rebels in Syria who urge us, “Keep the U.S. out of our country!”
To listen to this article and others from this issue, click here.
